USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > History of the Second church of Christ in Hartford > Part 20
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a repetition of the Hartford case. The Rev. Lester M. Dor- man, on his theological examination, expressed similar incer- titudes concerning probation, and was disapproved by a Council. A second Council, of which Drs. Hawes and Spring were members, approved and ordained him, and the reporter of the Hartford Council added this offense to the former one.1
So much for that somewhat memorable ordination or rather Council of 1860, in Hartford, which probably accom- plished something in the way of broadening Christian thought and fellowship in the Congregational churches, for which good result, thanks are especially due to the good sense, charitableness, and Christian manliness of Dr. Joel Hawes.
The deacons of the Church at that time, were Seth Terry, Peter D. Stillman, J. Hubbard Wells, Lucius Bar- bour, and A. W. Barrows. Dr. Barrows, now of the Park Church, is the only survivor. The Society's Committee were P. D. Stillman, Lucius Barbour, Marshall Jewell, E. D. Tif- fany, and George S. Gilman, and they all have gone hence.
William Blatchley was clerk of both Church and Society. Mr. James Goodman was superintendent of the Sunday- school, and his assistants were H C. Robinson and Elizabeth Cooledge. James Parker was secretary and George S. Gil- man and Seth Clark were librarians. Mr. Charles Hunting- ton was organist and choir leader, and Mrs. Huntington sang in her own sweet and remarkable way. Mr. Foley, then a stalwart Irish carpenter, but some years later an Italian celebrity, known in all the capitals of Europe as Signor Foli, was the bass singer, and his matchless voice was the delight of lovers of music in Hartford at that time.
It was then the custom to have morning and afternoon service, but the second service was soon appointed for even- ing, and has so continued to the present time. The Congre- gational churches of Hartford then had meetings on Tues- day and Thursday evenings, the one a prayer meeting, and the other a lecture. Few attended the lecture, and very few
1 Mr. Dorman afterwards found repose in the bosom of the Episcopal Church, whither, in 1890, Dr. Childs followed him.
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the prayer meeting. The lecture, a tradition of the elders, had the right of way. The forms of public worship were bleak and bare. In the First Church the Scriptures were not read at the afternoon service. It had not entered into the minds of Congregationalists to use the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, or chants, in worship, or to observe Christmas or Easter religiously. The hymn-book then in use was the old Con- necticut Psalms and Hymns without music, and the choir sang the hymns to music selected from some of the numerous "singing books " of that time, noticeable among which was the collection by H. W. Greatorex, a Hartford musician. In 1860 the Second Church adopted the Sabbath Hymn-Book, with music, but congregational singing did not flourish much.
The House of Worship, within and without, presented a depressing aspect. The old windows with inside shutters, were very rickety and dirty. From floor to ceiling every- thing needed cleansing and renewal. The pulpit was a semi- circular sort of fortress constructed of pine wood and painted. Behind and above the pulpit there was a huge window, through which, from the Sunday-school room, mischievous boys or wandering mice sometimes caused grotesque figures to appear to the congregation. As for the exterior, it wore an aspect of neglect and dilapidation. The main part showed traces of the red paint with which its walls had once been covered, and the coat of white paint in which the spire had been dressed, was worn to raggedness. The Chapel had never been painted. There was no fence, and the north yard, now so tastefully kept, looked but little better than the miserable mud-hole across the street.
As for the city in general, almost all the fine edifices which now adorn its streets have been erected since 1860. Charter Oak Hill was marked by two or three dwellings. Asylum Hill was out in the country. The South Green was an untidy common, open to all sorts of invasion. Main Street, uncurbed, was the city race-course in winter. There were, however, many fine trees along Main Street, which have disappeared.
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In the First Church was Dr. Hawes, "Pope Hawes," as he once described himself to Father Brady's astonished ser- vant. Rev. G. N. Webber was pastor of the North Church, and Rev. N. J. Burton, of the Fourth Church. Rev. Elias R. Beadle, D.D., had about him, in the Pearl Street Church, a host of young men. Dr. Turnbull was pastor of the First Baptist Church, Rev. Cephas B. Crane was settled that year in the South Baptist Church, and Rev. T. M. Burch was serv- ing in the Methodist Church. In Christ Church was Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, and Henry Wilson with his famous choir was there. Father Fisher was at St. Paul's, and Dr. E. A. Washburne at St. John's. Rev. Asher Moore was in the Uni- versalist Church, and in 1860 his congregation occupied their present sanctuary. Dr. Burton created no little commotion among the orthodox folk by preaching one Sunday in the Universalist Church. St. Peter's was described by the Times, in 1860, as "a flourishing little Church." Father Kelly was there. His flock was gathered in a building which had been, in succession, a schoolhouse, a Methodist Church, and a free chapel, and over and about it the present edifice was builded. Dr. Thomas S. Childs was Pastor of the Presbyterian Church then located on Main Street. The Jewish congregation was at 400 Main Street. The Unitarian Church stood where now is the Charter Oak Bank. It was sold that year, taken down and rebuilt on Asylum Hill, and consecrated as Trinity Church. "The stone which the (Unitarian) builders rejected became the head of the (Episcopal) corner." Rev. Myron N. Morris was in West Hartford. Dr. Spring was in East Hartford, and venerable Dr. Noah Porter was still at Farmington. Dr. Perrin and Rev. Mr. Goodell were in New Britain. Trinity College stood where now is the State Capitol, and Rev. Daniel Goodwin was President thereof, succeeded that same year by Samuel Elliot. Bishop Brownell resided here. The Hartford High School was then in a building at the corner of Asylum and Ann Streets, with Mr. T. W. T. Curtis as principal, and Samuel M. Capron as
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principal of the classical department. The Hartford Female Seminary on Pratt Street, Miss Ranncy principal, was then a flourishing institution, and Miss Draper's Seminary on Trum- bull Street was prosperous. The City Missionary Society had just been founded, and Father Hawley was its mis- sionary. Hon. W. J. Hammersley was Postmaster ; Henry C. Deming was Mayor; Wm. A. Buckingham was Gov- ernor of the State. Allyn Hall was as yet unbuilt, and Touro Hall was the best here. In 1860, the new Methodist Church on Asylum Street was dedicated, and the Hartford Hospital was first opened for the reception of patients. Mr. Dudley Buck was studying music in Germany. That year Dr. Hawes preached a sermon commemorative of the forty- third anniversary of his settlement as pastor of the First Church ; also his sermons on tobacco, concerning which numerous anecdotes have been in circulation. Hartford had a population of less than 30,000 people, and 700 places where intoxicating liquors were sold. Now its population is twice as great as then, and the number of places where liquor is sold is not much more than half of 700. Prominent among Hartford physicians were Drs. Beresford, Taft, Wilcox, Haw- ley, Jackson, and Browne. Among the leading lawyers were Hungerford, Perkins, Storrs, Chapman, Hubbard, and Lucius Robinson.1
In 1860 a new and carefully compiled manual of the Church, containing a catalogue of members, was published and distributed. On Christmas Eve a service of public wor- ship was held in the sanctuary, and, so far as the writer knows, this was the first celebration of Christmas, in wor- ship, by any Congregational church in New England.
Very soon after, it became the usage of this Church to celebrate Easter as well as Christmas with appropriate religious services, and, in due time, Palm Sunday, Whitsun- day, and, especially, Good Friday came to be also observed.
1 For a more detailed account of things at home and abroad in 1860, see the dis- course preached by the writer, 18go, commemorative of the 30th anniversary of his settlement here, and published under the title Thirty Years Ago, a copy of which is in the Historical Society.
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At the first communion service celebrated by the present pastor the closing hymn was that by Dr. Dwight, beginning "I love thy kingdom, Lord," and the same hymn has been sung at the close of every communion service, with one exception, to this day. Likewise, Charlotte Elliott's hymn, " Just as I am, without one plea," or a portion of it, has been sung as an introduction to the admission of mem- bers on profession of faith.
From the first, the Church quietly and gradually began to acquire liturgical habits, adopting forms of worship in which popular participation might be practicable. It was first decided, that, as a rule, all hymns shoulds be sung con- gregationally. Then the Lord's Prayer was introduced. The chanting of some psalm or canticle after the Scripture lesson, the congregation rising meanwhile, proved accep- table. In due time the Apostles' Creed became a part of wor- ship, and the communion service was enriched by the Kyrie Eleison, Gloria In Excelsis, and the Tersanctus. It became the custom, on the first Sunday of each year, communion Sun- day, to read the names of brethren and sisters departed dur- ing the year past, and to sing a suitable memorial hymn.
Certain versicles rendered responsively by the minister and choir, came into use, and the occasional introduction of the Litany proved grateful. Holy week came into observ- ance, and the Lord's Supper was observed on Thursday evening preceding Good Friday,- the anniversary of its in- stitution. So, gradually, without effort and without objec- tion, and with general acceptance, the worship of the Church has been dignified and enriched, not by modern invention, but by the recovery of old, hallowed, and catholic uses that had fallen into neglect in Puritan worship. In this good way many of our Congregational churches have more recently been graciously guided.
In 1860 the galleries of the sanctuary were put in order and made comfortable and attractive, and in due time began to be occupied.
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At that time, and for several years after, the largest sum appropriated by the Society for church music was one thou- sand dollars. In 1860 thirty-two persons were received into the Church, and for the ensuing ten years the number annu- ally received averaged about twenty-five. There was no season of special revival in Hartford during that time. Thomas H. Welles was elected deacon in 1862, and con- tinued in that office, most devotedly active in good works among the poor of the Church, until his death, in 1887.
The year of 1860 was one of great political agitation and excitement, and the outbreaking of the War of Re- bellion, in 1861, turned the thoughts and sympathies and prayers and sorrows of all our citizens into new channels. The ministers and the churches gave their enthusiastic support to the government. Disloyalty was heresy, and as in the Revolutionary War, Old Lights and New Lights for- got their contentions in a common devotion to the cause of liberty, so in the War of Rebellion, men of all diversities of doctrinal opinion combined to serve their country and avert the common peril of disunion. The text of the ser- mon preached in this Church on the Sunday morning next after the attack upon Fort Sumter was, "O God, they are confederate against Thee," and the text was enough. It needed no eloquence of the preacher to kindle the hearts of the congregation. The scene was one of intense and unsuppressed excitement. Nor was it singlar. Tumultuous applause greeted some of Dr. Burton's splendid outbursts of eloquent speech in the Fourth Church. A memorable ser- vice was held in the South Church on a Sunday afternoon in October, 1861, when the Eighth Connecticut Regiment, then in camp in Hartford, and about to depart for the war, marched into it, and filled the body of the house to overflow- ing, while the galleries were crowded with their friends. The pulpit was draped with flags, and the uniform of the soldiers seemed a sacred vestment. Thus, all through those dreadful years of conflict, religion and patriotism were
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so combined as to produce the utmost fervor and force of self-devotion.
In 1864 Charles T. Webster, who joined the Church in 1831, was chosen deacon, and held the office until his death, in 1878. He was a strong pillar in both Church and Society. Nelson Kingsbury served as deacon from 1866 to 1874.
In 1864 a committee was appointed by the Society to raise by subscription a sum of money sufficient to put the church edifice in good condition, without and within, to put a clock in the tower, and to enclose the north yard with an iron fence. The money was raised, and the much-needed repairs were made without increasing the Society's debt.
In 1862 the Rev. Wolcott Calkins was settled as associ- ate pastor with Dr. Hawes, in the First Church, but resigned in 1864. Dr. Hawes then retired from all active duty in the ' Church, and Rev. George H. Gould, D.D., became the pas- tor, and continued in that relation till 1870. Rev. George H. Spaulding succeeded Rev. Mr. Webber at the North Church, and was pastor there from 1864 to 1869. From 1864 to 1866 Rev. J. L. Jenkins was pastor of the Pearl Street Church, and his successor was Rev. William L. Gage, D.D., 1868-1884.
The Asylum Hill Congregational Church was organized March 23, 1865, and, December 13th of the same year, Rev. Joseph H. Twichell was ordained and installed as its pastor. To this Church, from time to time, many valued members of the South Church have been dismissed and commended. In 1868 an ecclesiastical society was formed on Wethersfield Avenue and a church edifice was erected. In 1873 a church was organized there. In 1866 the Church of the Good Shep- herd was formed, and the beautiful sanctuary built by Mrs. Colt as a memorial to her deceased husband and children was consecrated in 1869.
St. Peter's Church (Roman Catholic) was completed in 1865, St. James' Church (Episcopal) was organized in 1868, the South Methodist in 1869, and the Windsor Avenue
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Church in 1870. This growth and expansion of Christian organizations must be duly considered, in order to appre- ciate the environment and to estimate the progress of the Second Church.
On the 5th of June, 1867, Dr. Hawes died at Gilead, where he had gone to preach, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and his funeral service was attended, June 8th, in the church of which he had so long been pastor. Among the sermons suggested by his departure was one by the pastor of the Second Church, whom Dr. Hawes had never ceased to aid and strengthen by his fatherly wisdom and en- couragement. In the death of this godly man all the churches were bereaved.
The year 1870 was marked by several important events in the history of the Church. The house at No. 47 Bucking- ham Street was purchased and rebuilt for a parsonage. The comparatively modern covenant of the Church was aban- doned, and the original covenant of 1670 was recovered and restored to its proper place. Several old documents (which have been already described) pertaining to the early history of the Church, and containing a catalogue of members admitted and children baptized, from 1670 to 1731, were brought to light.
At a meeting of the committee of the Second Church, held January 13, 1870, it was decided to "appropriately cele- brate the forthcoming bi-centennial anniversary of the estab- lishment of this Church," and a committee of arrangements was appointed to make all suitable preparation for the cele- bration. Of the twenty persons constituting that committee eleven are still living. Letters of invitation were sent to many churches and individuals outside of Hartford, and to all the churches, of all denominations, in the city. A general and cordial invitation was also published “ to all per- sons who have at any time been members of this Church or congregation." Most of the churches invited sent repre- sentatives, and among the specially invited guests were Drs.
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Bushnell, Bacon, Daggett, and Patton, and the Rev. Charles E. Linsley. It was a subject of regret that Dr. Walter Clarke was unable to be present.
Arrangements were made for services and assemblies on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 22d and 23d, as follows : An historical address by the pastor, Tuesday afternoon ; a social reunion and collation in the church parlors, Tuesday evening ; a devotional service, Wednesday morning, at 9:30 o'clock, to be followed by a public assembly for ad- dresses and music; the Lord's Supper, Wednesday after- noon, and a closing discourse by the Rev. Dr. Daggett, Wednesday evening. These arrangements were carried out, and, in the good providence of God, the two days of the celebration were delightfully clear and pleasant. The decorations of the sanctuary elicited universal admiration.1 Along the sides were festoons of laurel and pine, looped up, at regular intervals, over medallions containing the names of the former pastors of the Church, and the date of their pastorates. Each name was enclosed in a wreath of laurel. In front of the organ-loft the festoons were held by stars and crosses, and in the center was a large lyre with strings of gold. The columns were entwined with heavy wreaths, and large festoons were suspended from the dome and gathered in at the four corners of the Church. From the center of the dome hung also a massive green anchor and cross. The large window in the rear of the pulpit was elaborately decorated so as to frame with green the original covenant of the Church, printed in large German text, on either side of which were similar arrangements con- taining the text of the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. The pastor's name was inscribed under the covenant. The pul- pit was festooned with evergreens, and upon it stood two century plants, while all around flowers were bestowed in great profusion and with exquisite taste. The opening ser- vices, at two o'clock P. M., Tuesday, were attended by a con-
1 The picture representing the interior of the Church, with decorations, was copied from a full-page illustration in Frank Leslie's newspaper, of 1870.
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BI-CENTENNIAL, 1870
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gregation that filled the building to its utmost capacity. A large choir sang the great Christian hymn, Te Deum Lauda- mus, Rev. Dr. Field of New London read the Scripture les- sons, and Rev. Dr. Daggett offered prayer. The hymns sung were "Glorious things of Thee are spoken," "Christ is made the sure foundation," and "While shepherds watched their flocks by night," the latter to old "Sher- burne." Dr. J. Aspinwall Hodge pronounced the benedic- tion. The historical address, on that occasion, was deliv- ered by the pastor of the Church, and was published, together with a full report of the anniversary exercises, in a pamphlet which also contained the papers on the original controversy in the Hartford Church, 1656-59, discovered by Dr. Palfrey, of which mention has been made.
This pamplilet is not now easily procured. Many copies of it, stored in the Church, were used by an ignorant sexton for kindling his fires. The address had a value at the time, but contained some errors which have since been corrected, and was necessarily brief and fragmentary. Whatever it contained of permanent value has been wrought into the texture of this present history.
The following account of the festival exercises is taken from the aforementioned pamphlet, entitled, "Proceedings at the Two Hundreth Anniversary of the Second Church of Christ in Hartford, February 22 and 23, 1870."
Tuesday evening had been set apart for social enter- tainment, and invitations had been given to all past and present members of the parish, and to many friends in other churches. A bountiful collation was spread in the parlors of the Church, and a score or two of young ladies, dressed in the garments of their grandmothers, waited upon the tables and served the throng of people with gracious cordiality. In the upper room of the chapel an old-fashioned dinner table was spread, and the curiosities there displayed attracted much attention. There were gigantic doughnuts, an iron pot full of pork and beans, johnny-cake baked in the "old
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testament " way, vast expanses of pumpkin pie, great loaves of rye bread, and the table was set with pewter platters and mugs and old china, while hard by stood antique utensils of all sorts. Later in the evening the people gathered in the Church and, led by the pastor, spent an hour of song together. This proved to be a delightful part of the cele- bration. The spirit of God seemed to be present, and many hearts were graciously touched. A cloud of witnesses seemed to hover about, the home-feeling was predominant, and the sanctuary seemed to be the gate of heaven indeed.
On Wednesday morning, at 9:30 o'clock, a prayer meet- ing of great interest was held in the Sunday-school room, which was conducted by Rev. T. L. Shipman of Jewett City, who formerly preached some months in the old South meeting-house.
At half past ten o'clock the reunion service was held in the Church, and the building was crowded to its utmost capacity. A large chorus, assisted by an old-fashioned orchestra of violins, bass viols, flutes, etc., etc., and the organ, sang the tunes of long ago,- Invitation, Turner, Majesty, and others of the same style.
The Pastor read from the church records to the effect that in 1825 Joseph Webster was appointed delegate to attend a council called in New Haven to examine and install the Rev. Leonard Bacon as pastor of the First Church in that city, and then introduced Dr. Bacon to the audience.
Dr. Bacon's remarks were exceedingly felicitous. He spoke of the old-style garments worn on the previous even- ing, and said that they all seemed familiar to him. He spoke of his first visit to Hartford, almost fifty-eight years before, and of the rustic admiration with which he then surveyed "the beautiful village that proudly called itself a city." He recalled "the South Meeting-House, standing, according to an old Connecticut fashion, in the middle of the street, at the intersection of two roads, and closely resembling, within and without, any ordinary wooden meeting-house built in the last century."
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He alluded to the historical discourse of the previous day, and dwelt at length and with his accustomed power, on the thought that "our Congregational churches, with all the mutual independency inherent in their organization, are one in the unity of their spiritual life, and in their strong tendency to fraternal intercommunion. With no external bond that may not be sundered in a moment, they are one ecclesiastical commonwealth through all the vicissitudes of their history."
This thought he illustrated by many references to the history of Congregationalism in New England, and said, "The testimony of all these ages is that our churches, ' distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea,' are held together in a vital unity safer and stronger than any outward bond of coercive authority."
He spoke in a most interesting manner of Dr. Flint and Dr. Linsley, and some portions of this part of his address have already been quoted. [See p. 187.]
The Pastor then introduced the Rev. O. E. Daggett, D.D., a former pastor of the Church, whose remarks were listened to with eager interest. He was a school boy in the Hopkins grammar school at Hartford in 1824, and was ordained pastor here in 1837. He alluded in a very tender way to Drs. Linsley, Vanarsdalen, and Hawes. "It always rained when Dr. Hawes exchanged with him !" When he left the Church it had 406 members, five-eighths of whom had joined during his pastorate. Of the 307 admitted, 218 were by profession of faith. In March, 1838, 110 persons were added to the Church on profession. He gave a most vivid account of the great revival of 1838 in Hartford.
After the singing of a hymn, the Rev. Horace Bushnell, D.D., was introduced, and spoke as follows : -
" Recollections appear to be the kind of contributions most demanded here, and most naturally given, as they are certainly most appropriate to the occasion ; but I have none to give. My friend, Dr. Bacon, thought he could remember a good part of these two centuries, but I am so much older than he that I do not remember anything. I have an indistinct
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recollection that when I came in hither as a boy to get sight of so great a city, I saw the old wooden meeting-house standing out, hereabouts, in the street, but whether it was a whole thousand years back, I would not trust my memory to say.
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